Poult's Wing Feathers Growing in Oddly

Last week I bought my first ever turkey poults. They were 18 days old when I got them, now they are 27 days old. I've been watching their feathers coming in, and the smaller one has always seemed like its left wing was shaped funny, with the pin feathers sticking out at an odd angle. Occasionally it will lay its wings down flat, but most of the time, the left one just doesn't look right. Today I noticed that now the right wing looks a little off as well. I think these photos show what I mean:

If I didn't have the larger one to compare it to, as a newbie, I might just assume that is how turkeys develop. But Stuffing, the little one, isn't the same at all as Cranberry, the bigger one. Cranberry's wings filled in much sooner, and they lay nice and flat.

In fact, I noticed from the first day that Stuffing was smaller, and by the second night, Cranberry had grown a ton, but by comparison, it seemed as if Stuffing was shrinking. The first day, I didn't think Stuffing would ever eat, and was worried he might not survive. (Mind you, at 18 days old, I know that he already knew how to eat, but how could I know whether the stress of the move might harm him?) I'm not worried about his survival anymore, but I wonder if he has some kind of deformity. I wonder how this will affect him when he is grown.

I have some other pictures to show the difference between him and Cranberry.

Nice smooth wing development on Cranberry:

Cranberry even has a tail:

Here you can see the size difference at 26 days old:

And here you can see that Stuffing's legs are much thinner. It's almost like he is a week further behind in development.

So I think somehow his growth must be stunted, and probably the wing deformity is related. What do you guys think? Anybody seen this kind of wing development before? Does it mean he will look odd as an adult? Or is it possible he might outgrow all this and catch up to Cranberry eventually?

I am thinking that Cran is a boy and Stuff is a girl. Boys grow bigger and faster than the girls, have thicker legs and bigger snoods even as babies. Stuffing may just be a girl and her wings are growing a bit faster than her body so they don't have enough room to lay down properly. Since you say she's eating and drinking fine...I would just chalk it up to quirky growing spurts. Also, are the birds from the same two parents? If not, there could be some genetic variation that is causing one to grow much faster right now than the other.

How do Stuffing's wings look when stretched out? As they grow, the wings often fold somewhat oddly, but when spread they should be symmetrical.

I'd never guess they were the same age.

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Well, stretched out, they can go flat, but they do still seem to have odd gaps between where the different joints are. But Cranberry has that too, so I think what I'm seeing there is just the difference between wing segments. I noticed this morning that Stuffing does not seem to be grooming off the sheaths of the pin feathers. They are really long sticks, with a bit of fluffed out barbs at the tips. I'll try to get a photo of that later.

I am thinking that Cran is a boy and Stuff is a girl. Boys grow bigger and faster than the girls, have thicker legs and bigger snoods even as babies. Stuffing may just be a girl and her wings are growing a bit faster than her body so they don't have enough room to lay down properly. Since you say she's eating and drinking fine...I would just chalk it up to quirky growing spurts. Also, are the birds from the same two parents? If not, there could be some genetic variation that is causing one to grow much faster right now than the other.

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Thank you. I have also heard that boys grow faster, but I wouldn't have thought it would be this remarkable.

When I asked the breeder if he thought they were siblings, he said he thought they were from different parents, because one of his pairs throws different patterns of markings than his other pair. So that could account for some of the difference as well.

I should probably ask him what he thinks. But I wanted to find out other people's opinions before I contacted him. I didn't want to sound critical, lol. But I know the man wants me to keep in touch. He said if I ended up with a pair, he would like to buy poults back from them.

You are welcome. Too bad you didn't want to breed, because you can pretty much tell they are not siblings. We are eagerly awaiting our first 2 Narri eggs to hatch. Candled today and all is good. I LOVE BABY TURKEYS.

You are welcome. Too bad you didn't want to breed, because you can pretty much tell they are not siblings. We are eagerly awaiting our first 2 Narri eggs to hatch. Candled today and all is good. I LOVE BABY TURKEYS.

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Oh, I figured that if I ended up with a pair, I would most likely breed them. But if Stuffing has some kind of wing issue, then I won't want to use him/her. Even if he turns out fine in the end, I would question whether this odd growth is a good idea to perpetuate. I mean, it's not normal for birds in general to hang onto their sheaths like this.

I'm hoping that Cranberry will be a boy. I would really like to get a Sweetgrass hen, and I found out that since the Narragansett gene is sex-linked, then I would be able to sex all the poults from that pairing by color. But that wouldn't work if Cranberry is a girl.